Following Faith

Peggy Fletcher Stack

Peggy Fletcher Stack has been producing stories for The Salt Lake Tribune's award-winning Faith section for nearly two decades. Writing about contemporary faith, rituals, and spirituality as well as religion's conflicts and cohesion has always been Stack's passion. Follow her at facebook.com/peggy.fletcherstack, Twitter @religiongal

A leading Mormon official, who wowed General Conference listeners last spring with his impassioned plea urging Latter-day Saints to help refugees, is trumpeting that call again — this time at a European Union summit.
Patrick Kearon, a general authority Seventy who oversees Europe for The Church of J...
A leading Mormon official, who wowed General Conference listeners last spring with his impassioned plea urging Latter-day Saints to help refugees, is ...

Next week, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City will have been without a bishop for 18 months, the longest time in its history, writes Gary Topping in this week’s diocesan newspaper.
Topping should know. As Utah’s Catholic archivist, he is intimately aware of the faith’s nearly 150-year history in...
Next week, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City will have been without a bishop for 18 months, the longest time in its history, writes Gary Topping ...

Brigham Young University-Idaho recently gained its first female vice president, but it has a long way to go to catch up with its much larger sister school in Utah.
The flagship campus of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had women in veep roles for years and, it turns out, even con...
Brigham Young University-Idaho recently gained its first female vice president, but it has a long way to go to catch up with its much larger sister sc...

If you are a brown-skinned, dark-haired Mormon with a temple recommend and some acting experience, the LDS Church wants you for central roles in its forthcoming Book of Mormon videos.
You could play Lehi (“a powerful prophet and seer ... a courageous man and a stalwart patriarch”), Nephi (who “matur...
If you are a brown-skinned, dark-haired Mormon with a temple recommend and some acting experience, the LDS Church wants you for central roles in its f...

For 40 years, Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer’s advice to teenage boys about their “little factories” was widely distributed inside the LDS Church and widely mocked outside it.
Now the pamphlet “To Young Men Only” — which addressed the issue of masturbation to help boys as they navigate puberty — has...
For 40 years, Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer’s advice to teenage boys about their “little factories” was widely distributed inside the LDS Church and w...

Mormonism’s “heavenly parents” are getting more earthly mentions from top LDS leaders, especially since the Utah-based faith published an essay last year affirming its belief in a divine mother.
LDS researcher Christian Anderson has been tracking the number of times twice-yearly General Conference s...
Mormonism’s “heavenly parents” are getting more earthly mentions from top LDS leaders, especially since the Utah-based faith published an essay last y...

The Mormon attachment to Jerusalem goes back, way back, to the fall of 1841.
That’s when LDS apostle Orson Hyde first visited the Middle Eastern city, considered a holy site to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
On assignment from Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Hyde climbed the Mount of Olives — where Chri...
The Mormon attachment to Jerusalem goes back, way back, to the fall of 1841.
That’s when LDS apostle Orson Hyde first visited the Middle Eastern city,...

Mormons may dominate Utah’s religious landscape, but they must not be domineering, especially in their interactions with outsiders, a top church leader counseled Salt Lake City area Latter-day Saints.
Apostle M. Russell Ballard, addressing 220 stakes (regional groups of LDS congregations) in a sermo...
Mormons may dominate Utah’s religious landscape, but they must not be domineering, especially in their interactions with outsiders, a top church leade...

For several years, Mormon feminists have been trying to get their church to eliminate from official publications any connection between rape and chastity.
It was especially noticeable in an LDS scripture, Moroni 9:9, which says, “For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken pri...
For several years, Mormon feminists have been trying to get their church to eliminate from official publications any connection between rape and chast...

Mormon apostle Jeffrey R. Holland may be the first LDS leader ever to mention “female genital mutilation.”
In a Sept. 11 speech at a four-day conference in the United Kingdom titled “Religious Persecution: The Driver for Forced Migration,” Holland told attendees that sexual attacks do not happen onl...
Mormon apostle Jeffrey R. Holland may be the first LDS leader ever to mention “female genital mutilation.”
In a Sept. 11 speech at a four-day conferen...

In a kind of “Odd Couple” pairing, well-known excommunicated Mormon John Dehlin has joined forces with nationally respected LDS scholar Patrick Mason on a joint blog titled “Mormonism Inside and Out.”
The weekly exchange was the brainchild of Patheos, a nondenominational online media company, and li...
In a kind of “Odd Couple” pairing, well-known excommunicated Mormon John Dehlin has joined forces with nationally respected LDS scholar Patrick Mason ...

Senior Mormon apostle Russell M. Nelson gave the LDS Church’s hotly debated policy about gay couples and their children extra emphasis when he declared the action came as the result of a revelation from heaven to the faith’s prophet.
Nelson’s sermon — delivered in Hawaii in January 2016 and which be...
Senior Mormon apostle Russell M. Nelson gave the LDS Church’s hotly debated policy about gay couples and their children extra emphasis when he declare...

In an effort led by former Utah Bishop John C. Wester, Catholic clergy in New Mexico sent out a stern letter this week, unanimously opposing the governor’s push to reinstate the death penalty.
Seven years ago, the state ended capital punishment, the bishops wrote in a public statement, “moving New M...
In an effort led by former Utah Bishop John C. Wester, Catholic clergy in New Mexico sent out a stern letter this week, unanimously opposing the gover...

Few would be upset — or even notice — the subtle difference between “freedom of religion” and “freedom to worship and believe.”
But the Rev. Thomas Reese sure noticed when the Democratic Party’s initial platform proposed the latter phrase instead of the former.
“Freedom of religion” is considered “...
Few would be upset — or even notice — the subtle difference between “freedom of religion” and “freedom to worship and believe.”
But the Rev. Thomas Re...

If a married woman helps oversee the physical and mental health of 200 LDS missionaries, isn’t there a better way to describe her than as the “mission president’s wife”?
That’s a question the Mormon women’s journal, SquareTwo, asked its readers a couple of months ago. And 96 percent of 463 responden...
If a married woman helps oversee the physical and mental health of 200 LDS missionaries, isn’t there a better way to describe her than as the “mission...

Some local Mormon leaders in Utah landed on a novel approach for keeping their young people — including those who have served two-year or 18-month full-time missions — committed to the faith: Get it in writing.
The Hillcrest LDS Stake, a group of congregations in American Fork, had their returning m...
Some local Mormon leaders in Utah landed on a novel approach for keeping their young people — including those who have served two-year or 18-month ful...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, citing terrorism fears, has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Nearly 140 years ago, a similar barrier was proposed — for Mormons.
On Aug. 10, 1879, U.S. Secretary of State William M. Evarts, amid concerns about the LDS Church’s then...
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, citing terrorism fears, has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Nearly 140 years ago...

Last week, Nathan Johnson, a black Mormon convert and a regional LDS Church leader in Ohio, offered an invocation at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
“Please bless all of our leaders, Father, that they may have wisdom and humility as they serve,” Johnson, the second counselor in the ...
Last week, Nathan Johnson, a black Mormon convert and a regional LDS Church leader in Ohio, offered an invocation at the Republican National Conventio...

Salt Lake City Council members long have been invited to ride — with a guest — in the annual Days of ’47 parade, marking the Mormon pioneers’ arrival in Utah in 1847.
But after parade bosses rejected Mormons Building Bridges — a group working to improve ties between the LDS and LGBT communities, as ...
Salt Lake City Council members long have been invited to ride — with a guest — in the annual Days of ’47 parade, marking the Mormon pioneers’ arrival ...

There sits brown-skinned, round-faced, curly haired Jesus, surrounded by children with Asian features — on his lap, next to him and responding to his outstretched hand.
It is a familiar scene for Mormon artists, but not a familiar Son of God. Christ’s look departs from the faith’s typical blue-eyed ...
There sits brown-skinned, round-faced, curly haired Jesus, surrounded by children with Asian features — on his lap, next to him and responding to his ...

If you are a student at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and also work at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the same island, you might experience a cultural whiplash going from one to the other.
“Both entities are owned by the LDS Church,” BYU-Hawaii professor Chiung Hwang Chen told a group of schola...
If you are a student at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and also work at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the same island, you might experience a cul...

The Dalai Lama captivated thousands of Utahns this week with his speech Tuesday at the Huntsman Center, emphasizing the power of individuals in bringing about change and pointing out that actions, more than prayer, can lead to global peace.
But the Tibetan Buddhist leader touched on many more topics...
The Dalai Lama captivated thousands of Utahns this week with his speech Tuesday at the Huntsman Center, emphasizing the power of individuals in bringi...

In July 1910, Mormon missionaries were expelled from Germany amid allegations they were recruiting women to become polygamous wives in Utah. That move prompted the British Parliament to wonder whether England should follow suit.
The politician assigned to oversee the investigation? A young man named...
In July 1910, Mormon missionaries were expelled from Germany amid allegations they were recruiting women to become polygamous wives in Utah. That move...

Titles are important, says the Mormon women’s journal, SquareTwo, so it’s time to rethink some of the standard ones for LDS organizations associated with women.
Thus the magazine, created by former Brigham Young University professor Valerie Hudson, is asking readers for new naming possibilities.
Is ...
Titles are important, says the Mormon women’s journal, SquareTwo, so it’s time to rethink some of the standard ones for LDS organizations associated w...

Super-Scouter Thomas S. Monson already has a Silver Beaver, a Silver Buffalo, a Silver Fox and a Bronze Wolf.
On Wednesday, the LDS Church president added yet another badge of honor: Officials broke ground on a national Scout facility named after him.
The Thomas S. Monson Leadership Excellence Compl...
Super-Scouter Thomas S. Monson already has a Silver Beaver, a Silver Buffalo, a Silver Fox and a Bronze Wolf.
On Wednesday, the LDS Church president a...

A week ago, Mormons quietly marked the 38th anniversary of their faith lifting its ban on black men and boys holding the priesthood and black women participating in temple rituals.
But lest any in the 15 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presume that momentous June 8, 1978, ...
A week ago, Mormons quietly marked the 38th anniversary of their faith lifting its ban on black men and boys holding the priesthood and black women pa...

The late Mormon historian Leonard Arrington not only documented the faith’s past, he also yearned to shape its future.
Gregory A. Prince’s new biography, “Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History,” reveals a 1990s diary entry in which the noted scholar rattled off practices he would like ...
The late Mormon historian Leonard Arrington not only documented the faith’s past, he also yearned to shape its future.
Gregory A. Prince’s new biograp...

Though Mormons and evangelicals may be allies on some social issues — opposition to gay marriage, for one — they have long been theological foes.
In recent decades, many evangelical believers as well as mainstream Protestants repeatedly have argued that Mormons are not, in fact, Christians.
Members ...
Though Mormons and evangelicals may be allies on some social issues — opposition to gay marriage, for one — they have long been theological foes.
In r...

In the ongoing debate about sexual assault at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, this much is clear: Many readers and observers do not understand the term “rape culture.”
It does not mean that rape is widespread and commonplace at a given university or in certain settings. It does not mean...
In the ongoing debate about sexual assault at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, this much is clear: Many readers and observers do not underst...